Game Quality - Should publishers be held more accountable?

[Emn1ty]

Sorry, to be clear, by "infinite amount of time" I was talking about researching every product we buy, not just games. I consider myself reasonably tech savvy, but sometimes, even comparing simple items, is a hassle. Throw in marketing drivel and it becomes impossible to actually determine a fair comparison between products.

 

The onus is on the buyer as far as making the decision to buy. But the onus is on the seller to accurately and honestly represent the product.

 

On this I agree 100%. The solution is transparency, and that needs to be handled both by the marketing departments as well as the media that covers these things. It can be quite convoluted in the gaming sector with all the bias floating around.

[The Evil Overlord]

Yes, these games aren't cheap, historically, I've bought great games, (lame by today's standards) but they've always been enjoyable, and quite a few of them had impressive graphics, nowadays all I seem to see on the shelves of game stores are fps or other types of multiplayer platforms, and some sort of patch when I try to install them, I get that the games industry <keyword> cares deeply about it's profit margin, but it should care about consumer satisfaction too.

 

That and repeat titles that are identical to titles released 6 months prior but called something else and rebranded as a 'new' game, I'd have less of a problem if these new games at the very least fixed some issues they've always had.

 

Also better moderation, we've entered a world now where free online gaming is being phased out on the new generation consoles, and the standard of moderation has not improved to reflect the extra we have to pay for out live or plus accounts. Ironically this is something pc gamers have told me is less of a problem. So as far as I'm concerned, if this can be done for pc games, it can be done for consoles too.

[Raa]

Yes they should.

 

But... as long as the generic masses are lapping the crap up and throwing dollars at publishers. The status quo won't change.

[francescob]

I think they should be accountable and Steam and other platforms should offer immediate refunds for them (of course only if the issues are bad enough, in order to avoid people just "renting" games). Also game reviews website should update their reviews in case the games are fixed/improved with subsequent updates.

[spaceelf]

I don't really see why the onus would lie with the publisher at all.  As long as they have to spend months pressing discs and have uncertain tech platforms to deal with you'll never have a perfect release.

 

Knowing that, if you still buy stuff at launch with little information to go on...that's on you.

[Alwaysonacoffebreak]

But can customers realistically use their consumer rights to seek refunds for a game they feel is "unfinished"? If you go to a retailer and tell them you're unsatisfied with a game I hope you've set aside a considerable amount of time to argue your point before you can even think about getting a refund. It may be different in Norway, but in Aus you have pretty much zero hope.

 

Even Google play only offers you, I think, a 30 minute window to ask for a refund for apps/games. What if you find an app breaking bug a week after purchase?

 

Try to get an refund in Steam, I dare you

[francescob]

I already lost something like 15 hours of gameplay due to FFXIII crashes and the dreaded ESC button bug, I could have re-bought the game several times if I worked extra for the same amount of hours :p.

 

The solution is clearly refunds with collateral damages! :o

[The Evil Overlord]

Yes, these games aren't cheap, historically, I've bought great games, (lame by today's standards) but they've always been enjoyable, and quite a few of them had impressive graphics, nowadays all I seem to see on the shelves of game stores are fps or other types of multiplayer platforms, and some sort of patch when I try to install them, I get that the games industry <keyword> cares deeply about it's profit margin, but it should care about consumer satisfaction too.

 

That and repeat titles that are identical to titles released 6 months prior but called something else and rebranded as a 'new' game, I'd have less of a problem if these new games at the very least fixed some issues they've always had.

 

Also better moderation, we've entered a world now where online gaming is being phased out on the new generation consoles, and the standard of moderation has not improved to reflect the extra we have to pay for out live or plus accounts. Ironically this is something pc gamers have told me is less of a problem. So as far as I'm concerned, if this can be done for pc games, it can be done for consoles too.

Quoting myself as I just noticed an error in my statement..

 

 

Also better moderation, we've entered a world now where free online gaming is being phased out on the new generation consoles, and the standard of moderation has not improved to reflect the extra we have to pay for out live or plus accounts. Ironically this is something pc gamers have told me is less of a problem. So as far as I'm concerned, if this can be done for pc games, it can be done for consoles too.

[Skiver Veteran]

Agreed, but I rarely think there's been games that are entirely unplayable. Broken in some aspects, sure, but not unplayable. All I'm saying is there's some onus on the buyer. Impulse buying is no excuse. I'm not saying that it justifies a broken product, but you can't entirely point fingers at them. They can't force you to buy anything. And I think an "infinite amount of time to research" is an unnecessary exaggeration.

False advertising is a separate issue. If the game changes significantly from a demo to release, there's something odd going on (but mostly, afaik, beyond playable demos everything in a game is subject to change until it is shipped). Again, I don't agree with the practice but there's no black/white there. There's good and bad examples of those events.

1) This was outsourced at some point, and iirc that's what resulted in the huge flop that it was.

2) Watchdogs had a visual target, that doesn't directly reflect on the final game. This happened with Halo 2 back in the day and many other games. People need to stop taking such 'demonstrations' at face value. This is a lesson I learned a long time ago.

3) I can't comment on BF4, and I've not heard of it being unplayable. But that's my ignorance.

Let me take BF4 as an example I can relate to more recently. The game was full of issues from not bring able to connect to a server and what was know as"rubber banding". So yes, the game itself in the most part was playable but barely. Now let's look at this from another point of view. You buy a new car, and because of issues it spends every other week in the garage getting "fixed" because the manufacturer didn't test it well enough. Would you be happy with that?

I get the whole do the research first, but why should that even be a thing? Why should someone be able to release a product that is only 90%/functional, but don't worry they will fix it soon? BF4 took well over 6 months to get anywhere near stable and even then it had its problems.

I personally feel that we shouldn't have to wait weeks after a product is releases before we can enjoy it. I loved BF4 but ultimately the game ruined itself for me by not working and I'll be much less likely to buy a future release from Ea/dice because of that. This really annoys me because deep down, behind the issues, the game was brilliant.

[spaceelf]

Try to get an refund in Steam, I dare you

I actually have, though they don't like doing it and may have changed policies since then.  I've always been under the impression it's up to the judgement of the support people.

[Alwaysonacoffebreak]

I actually have, though they don't like doing it and may have changed policies since then.  I've always been under the impression it's up to the judgement of the support people.

 

It is but it's actually wrong as most EU countries (not sure about others) have clear laws about it and Steam's T&C is worthless at that point. Austrailia actually went to counrt with Valve over this.

[compl3x]

On this I agree 100%. The solution is transparency, and that needs to be handled both by the marketing departments as well as the media that covers these things. It can be quite convoluted in the gaming sector with all the bias floating around.

 

 

A big thumbs up to transparency.

 

But as far as convincing marketing departments  and the media to cover this stuff accurately.. Let's just say don't hold your breath. There's no money in honesty.

[francescob]

I actually have, though they don't like doing it and may have changed policies since then.  I've always been under the impression it's up to the judgement of the support people.

Their public policy states they don't refund but they usually do. I have no idea what influences them in accepting/refusing a refund request though.

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

Their public policy states they don't refund but they usually do. I have no idea what influences them in accepting/refusing a refund request though.

 

There are also famous exceptions to that rule.

[Vandalsquad]

Try to get an refund in Steam, I dare you

 

Will be nice to see the outcome of the Australian government actually calling Valve on their bull**** in court.

[Emn1ty]

I personally feel that we shouldn't have to wait weeks after a product is releases before we can enjoy it. I loved BF4 but ultimately the game ruined itself for me by not working and I'll be much less likely to buy a future release from Ea/dice because of that. This really annoys me because deep down, behind the issues, the game was brilliant.

 

This here is how they are usually held accountable. They lose dedicated players... Big publishers don't only bank of one installment being successful, but the entire series. If they screw up in one game, they usually won't in the next if the know it will be a problem. Net issues are common in many games. Halo 2 had a lot of them. League of Legends had around 9 months of shoddy servers. Old to new, big to small games have problems. And while I know we all want perfect, 100% products every time but that's not practical. Even car manufacturers have recalls.

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

- for the consumers: don't pre-order games. Pre-order is done lots of hurt in the game industry, leaving bad developers earning money from crappy games that should be released at all.

 

 

the only game i preordered month in advance is Witcher 3.   Only because witcher 2 was just brilliant, they do not use any DRM and the company owns GOG!   

This guys I will support any day.   Any major publisher...  no thanks, I will wait for the game to be out, and read reviews.

 

 

ps.  Another exception.  Mortal Kombat.  After the last game, the next one is a must buy for me! No matter what.    So there are 2 games...

[Praetor]

i just now realized how many mistakes (grammar and spelling) i did in that post. It should be read:

 

 

for the consumers: don't pre-order games. Pre-order has done lots of hurt in the game industry, leaving bad developers earning money from crappy games that shouldn't be released at all.

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

i just now realized how many mistakes (grammar and spelling) i did in that post. It should be read:

 

off topic:

 

happens with me all the time. when typing fast.       i think it is a mild form of add and dyslexia, developed from internet age and scanning lots of info fast in short time.   basically lack of focus.

 

 

on the positive side:   while i find it super hard to concentrate for a long time to write a good article.  i can scan the internet for information and find it much much much faster then people who are not used to it.

i can scroll though pages at fast speed, that many people cannot even focus, and i can detect a keyword and stop in time.    processing info is super fast, output slow.     all because of constant internet time.